1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for data file and information storage.
2. Description of Related Art
The amount of data that is stored on worldwide computer systems has been growing exponentially for many years, mainly because of the rapid reduction in the cost of permanent storage media. Larger storage capacities have allowed software vendors to develop larger applications such that enterprise applications typically require many thousands of files while consumer applications typically require many hundreds of files. Given the expansive storage capabilities of an average computer system, the average user tends to keep unnecessary applications and data files rather than deleting them, and the file systems of most computers continue to increase in size over time. File system disorganization within a typical computer system has been exacerbated by access to corporate networks and the Internet. With the ability to easily exchange and download files, the average user tends to collect files that are seldomly used.
In some operational environments, such as data collection systems associated with oil exploration instruments, large amounts of data are stored in relatively few files. In most computer systems, however, the average size of a data file is relatively small, and typical file systems can become cluttered with numerous files. Although the hierarchical nature of file systems provides a mechanism for instilling order to file maintenance, it can be quite difficult to maintain order of one's file system in many instances.
File system disorganization can be relieved through the use of archive files, which allow users to package many files into a single file while maintaining the logical, hierarchical associations between the constituent files. Users can maintain less numerous archive files more easily than their more numerous constituent files, and the mental burden on users for tracking their own files is greatly reduced.
In addition, the transmission or receipt of a single archive file is easier than the transfer of numerous files that could be placed into a single archive file. This advantage is significant with respect to the frequent exchange of files through the Internet, particularly when a downloaded archive file can be maintained on the end-user's computer system as a single file rather than numerous unpackaged files.
However, the packaging of files into an archive file has at least one significant disadvantage in that information about the archive file's constituent files is hidden from a user's view. In order to provide a user with helpful information about the constituent files within an archive file, applications that manipulate archive files typically provide a user with a list of constituent files and a graphical representation of the hierarchical organization of the constituent files in an archive file. The persistent use of numerous archive files, though, creates a form of information veil opposed to user access.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system for allowing a user to initiate informational operations on archive files.